Motion detector circuitry has in recent years been incorporated into commercially available lighting fixtures for home and industrial Use. Typically the fixtures will have one or more incandescent bulb fixtures and an electronic motion detector supported by a single base. As has been the usual case for incandescent fixtures, they may be mounted to swivel and turn, such as a ball mounting, so that the light from the incandescent bulbs can be directed.
In some designs, the motion detection housing containing the infrared receiving element has also been mounted to swivel and turn and in some case has been mounted in a ball mounting so that it may be directed into the area most likely to trigger the lighting fixture. In these highly articulated, and modern fixtures, the presence of the infrared receiving element of the motion detector is manifestly noticeable, either in daylight or darkness such as when illuminated from the side by flashlight.
The overt presence of the motion detector circuitry housing, or at least the infrared detector portion of the motion detector can encourage intruders to deliberately bypass the system, or camouflage their presence. It is known, for example, that a heavy jacket covering the extremities of an intruder may allow the intruder to pass by the fixture. Yet the purpose of the fixture is two fold. First its purpose is to surprise the intruder who is then expected to flee. Secondly, the motion detection circuitry is expected to alert anyone in sight of the newly illuminated area to the presence of an intruder. If the light is sufficiently bright, it can also alert the inhabitants of the building upon which the motion detection light is mounted.
Further, the appearance of the modern motion detection fixtures is unsightly. The lighting components are typically directed into the desired areas of illumination while the motion detection component is directed into the area in which maximum sensitivity to motion is to be measured. Articulation of the lighting fixture portions including the light socket fixtures and infrared detector leave the fixture in an off balance, unattractive configuration. Any attempt to manufacture a fixture which attempted to fix or unduly limit the directivity of the infrared motion detection sensor, or which attempted to limit the electric lighting socket fixtures would be unacceptable or unwanted.
In the area of decorative fixtures, the overall appearance is typically designed to give an artistic aesthetic look to the building to which it is mounted. Typically the decorative fixtures are mounted near an building entrance way and are fitted with suitable lighting elements. Since the decorative fixture is typically located near the entrance way, it need not necessarily have swivelable lighting fixture sockets to specifically direct the light. The non-decorative lighting fixtures typically have sockets which are typically used in conjunction with flood lights which emit a highly directional beam of light, and would produce light too harsh for use near an entryway.
Even though decorative lighting usually does not need to have such directional lighting characteristics when it is used with an infrared motion detector it is still desirable to provide it with the practical directivity present in highly articulatable fixtures. However, a fixture with a 19th century gaslight motif will artistically suffer greatly from the presence of an articulated infrared detector suspended anywhere near such light fixture.
It is therefore desirable to hide and disguise such infrared detector, and the infrared motion detection circuitry, into the decorative fixture. Although such circuitry may be hidden elsewhere or may be mountable in the wall supporting the decorative fixture, such is not commercially practical because of increased labor costs and because of the potential incompatibility of the mounting surface to accept and house such separately located circuitry.
What is therefore needed are decorative fixtures which incorporate motion detection circuitry into their housings in such a manner that the presence of motion detection circuitry is concealed. What is also needed is the ability to direct the area of maximum sensitivity of the infrared detector, especially in an azimuthal direction. Where the decorative fixture is usually designed to be mounted near an entrance, and usually at a height of from about six to eight feet from grade, the azimuthal adjustment, particularly needed to be able to direct the area of sensitivity to the area in front of the entrance, is most needed.